How Jack Perfected His Greek
C.S. Lewis learned Greek through grammar-translation, but perfected it by drinking in large gulps from the original authors. A technique that may be worth trying with our own students.
Literature
Scribd: A Teacher’s and Parent’s Review
Scribd claims to be the “Netflix of Books,” but is it worth it? I’ve sub-scribd for over a year and share my thoughts here. It fills a few good needs for me as a parent and teacher, and it may work for a certain type of student, but it isn’t worth it for everyone. Read on to find out if Scribd is a good fit for you.
Three Hilariously Obscure Words from Dryden’s Translation of Plutarch’s Lives
Word-nerds are always delighted to come across words they don’t know and can’t even figure out in context. Check out a few I picked up from reading all of the Dryden-Clough translation of Plutarch’s Lives.
The Ways We Read: Ruminating
In my final post on reading, I delve into the most formative part of reading, which I call ruminating. I believe this sets our students up for the real work of creative and critical thinking, the ability to contemplate—impressive and elusive but also necessary in this age of Snapchat and the selfie.
The Ways We Read: Skimming
I try to teach my students to read in four basic ways. This post covers the first and introduces the analogy of texts being like a large body of water (I prefer the ocean, but you can think the Great Lakes if you’d like).